Thousands rally for school choice

TALLAHASSEE - A chorus of 4,000 Florida students, teachers and parents came to Tallahassee on Thursday to voice support for private scholarship programs, saying school choice is their choice.

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Organizers said the fifth annual "Step Up For Students" rally that packed the Capitol courtyard included 1,000 people from Northeast Florida, including Katherine Merritt. Merritt, 36, a volunteer at Lighthouse Christian School in Jacksonville, came to support the program that enables her to send her two children to the private school.

Merritt said her 18-year-old son, Christopher, is a Type 1 diabetic who struggled in public schools but has excelled at Lighthouse.

"Overall, there's a more comfortable, family-type feeling," she said. "Sometimes, the teachers in the public schools wouldn't help him if he was having a bad day with his illness, and the classes were too big."

The crowd also included Maxine Hansley, a 48-year-old mother of four from Jacksonville whose 13-year-old daughter, Crystal, attends Esprit De Corps Center for Learning.

"Without this scholarship, I wouldn't be able to afford sending her to a private school, and I wouldn't be able to see her blossoming as she's doing," Hansley said. "That's why I'm here today."

The rally was arranged to support Florida's corporate tax credit program, which uses corporate donations to provide scholarships to about 17,000 K-12 students. The program has bipartisan support, although the state's Opportunity Scholarships were struck down by the Florida Supreme Court last year.

Thursday's crowd heard Gov. Charlie Crist reiterate his support for the corporate credit program, repeating the traditional Republican position that the issue is one of freedom in determining where and how children are educated.

"We will continue to work hard to make sure you have the power of choice," Crist told the crowd.